We are very pleased to announce our Winter Network Champion of 2017 is Alessandra McConville, Energy and Carbon Manager at Cancer Research UK.

We interview Alessandra for insight into her work, achievements and collaboration with other Network members. Choosing a Network Champion is all about recognising the outstanding work being done by an individual within the Network, both for their own organisation and the Fit for the Future group as a whole.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role within Cancer Research UK?

I’m Energy and Carbon Manager at Cancer Research UK (CRUK), responsible for buying energy for our UK wide shop portfolio and our offices, energy analysis, managing CRUK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) and ESOS submissions, developing CRUK’s energy policy and strategy and creating a programme of ongoing energy auditing in the retail portfolio. I’m also having to branch out into water competition too.

What do you enjoy most about your work? 

After a few years exclusively working on carbon reporting and CRC compliance before I arrived at Cancer Research UK, I’m really enjoying the variety of the work. I’m still doing the number crunching for reporting, but I’m also working areas that are new to me, like energy procurement, and I’m working with people across the organization on a variety of initiatives such as implementing energy management, Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (a WRAP initiative), supply chains and annual reporting.

How are you involved in making your organisation more sustainable?

My primary focus is to get energy targets in place and embed good energy management practice. As well as this, I’m working on improving recycling in our offices and assisting the Sustainability Manager with CRUK’s activities relating to Modern Slavery Act and wider CSR issues in our supply chain.

Can you tell us about a project/ projects that you are particularly proud of?

Moving all of our energy data on to an online platform which can be accessed by anyone in the organization. This means we can now look at any site and see its energy use and cost, and for most sites we can also look at the half hourly energy use. Now we have the data in place, I am able to pinpoint energy issues in particular buildings and the plan is ultimately to provide access to shop managers and area managers, along with training on energy management, to help them control their costs and emissions

Which other organisations have you worked with through the Network and what have been the positive results?

I’ve also been involved in the ESOS and Energy Management Groups and recently I’ve started to work with a small group of energy managers who are sharing experience of drafting energy strategies.

I’ve worked with Oxfam in particular, due to very similar property portfolios. As well as sharing energy management experiences, it’s resulted in some useful collaborations on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for leased buildings and Modern Slavery Act.